Turkish Reporter Admits Making Up Jared Kushner Quote Praising Erdogan
(JTA) — A Turkish reporter admitted that he fabricated a quote by Jared Kushner in which President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser reportedly said Turkish President Recep Erdogan “is making Turkey great again like [the] U.S. We watch his efforts with appreciation.”
Yavuz Atalay, a reporter for the newspaper AKSAM, told The Daily Caller Thursday that he made up the quote.
In a private Twitter exchange with The Daily Caller, Atalay said he spoke with Kushner for less than two minutes.
“He did not say that,” Atalay wrote of the quote in question. “I asked him, ‘Do you think, Erdogan is making Turkey great again, like Trump?’ and he only said, ‘Yeah, I think so.’”
The White House did not respond to a follow-up question about the interview. A selfie with Kushner and the reporter accompanies the article.
Atalay has a history of exaggerating the Trump administration’s view of Erdogan and the Turkish government, according to The Daily Caller.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO